The audience listens to sobering statistics of the impact of heroin abuse in the Fond du Lac community during the Fond du Lac Heroin Summit held at the Stayer Center at Marian University on March 11. / Patrick Flood/Action Reporter Media

Dr. Sara Dennis speaks about the impact of heroin on pregnant mothers and their unborn children during the Fond du Lac Heroin Summit held Tuesday at the Stayer Center at Marian University. / Patrick Flood/Action Reporter Media

The audience tightly packed inside the Stayer Center was held captive by the raw testimony of a grieving mother and two recovering heroin addicts during the Fond du Lac Heroin Summit at Marian University.

The bittersweet messages of sorrow and second chances delivered Tuesday night by Brigette Henschel, Doug Darby and Anthony Alvarado put a human face on the rampant use of the drug in the Fox Valley and across Wisconsin.

Among the standing-room only crowd of community leaders were concerned citizens and parents desperate for information about the highly addictive drug threatening their children. Interspersed among the masses were some struggling with drug abuse themselves and others grieving the deaths of loved ones who lost battles with addiction.

“I’ve lost two friends to drug overdoses in the past three years. There’s got to be something we can do,” said Sophie Martinez.

Never going to be me

Recovering addicts Alvarado, 29, formerly of Ripon, and Darby, 27, of Suamico, hit rock bottom before they attempted the long climb back after years of heroin use.

In an effort to educate the public and spare others from the pain and suffering caused by drug abuse, the two men have created the movement “Rise Together.” Together they’ve visited high schools, rehabilitation clinics, police departments and community forums to spread their message of second chances in hopes of saving lives.

The son of a drug addict, Darby was using cocaine and prescription drugs before sampling heroin soon after graduating from high school.

“My father died with a rope around his neck and a needle in his arm when I was a freshman in high school. The destiny of my father was never going to be me — I was mentally stronger than him,” Darby recalled thinking.

As the years passed, Darby’s drug use escalated despite three overdoses. Desperate for drugs one night, Darby robbed a pharmacy at gunpoint.

“I was a damned monster when I was using, I didn’t care about my family or my friends,” Darby said. “That’s the insanity of addiction — nothing matters. One night I found myself in the shower at the Brown County jail contemplating suicide and realized I was doing the same thing to my little brother that my dad had done to me. I became what I said I never would. This brought me to my knees.”

(Page 2 of 3)

Alvarado began using drugs at the age of 14. Raised in the home of drug addict parents, he said he lacked education and awareness in his chaotic home life.

“At the age of 17 I was a deadbeat student with a dead-end job and a full-time habit that was harming more than just myself,” Alvarado said. “Drugs took from me everything I cared about.”

He credits his young son for saving his life.

“I was sitting on the porch at the end of my rope. I was tired, broken and ashamed of what I had become. My 3-year-old son looked into my eyes and said ‘Dad, don’t die. I love you. Don’t die,’” Alvarado said. “Something clicked. That was the tipping point in my life. He had been in my life for three years and I never even saw him.”

For the last seven years Alvarado has been working tirelessly to remain clean.

“I’ve been to rehab three times, taking classes and reaching out to others. I broke the cycle in my family so my kids don’t have to go through what I did,” he said.

“(Doug) and I are standing here today as living proof that we can recover and stand up and turn lives around,” Alvarado said.

“We can’t do it without you,” Darby added. “It started with one voice. We can rise together and make a difference in front of the kids in telling our stories.”

'A daughter anyone would be proud of'

Fighting back tears, Brigette Henschel of Neshkoro walked to the podium to share the tragic story of her daughter’s untimely death.

“Even though it’s been almost two years, it seems like only yesterday when we learned of our daughter Amalia’s death from a heroin overdose,” said Henschel as she reached into a bag and pulled out a wooden container containing her 21-year-old daughter’s ashes.

“I brought her with me here tonight. Something has to be done right away or some of you may have a story that sounds tragically familiar to mine.”

Henschel says she and her husband sought a small community far from crime-riddled big cities to raise their children. Little did they know that heroin would find their rural home.

(Page 3 of 3)

“She was a daughter anyone would be proud of. Then things started to change,” Henschel said.

Waning interest in favorite activities, new friends, falling grades were all things that Henschel tried to rationalize away as a child trying to find herself until they discovered prescription painkillers and drug paraphernalia.

As things worsened, the family intervened and entered Amalia in a treatment program.

“She had the full support of our family. And from what we could see was a changed person heading in the right direction,” Henschel said. “While we understood that addiction is a disease that’s very hard to overcome on the first, second or even third attempt, it sure seemed like she was better.”

On April 11, 2012, Amalia left and never returned. Police say she met friends at a Redgranite tavern where she was given heroin. Her body was found later near a residence a short distance from the bar. Two men face federal charges for allegedly providing the drug.

“The cause of her death shocked us. We were a hard-working middle class family who up until that time never imagined a drug like heroin would find its way into our small community. I’m living proof that it does,” Henschel said. “This doesn’t just happen to movie stars or people in big cities. This is a rapidly growing problem that’s getting worse.”

Fighting the war against heroin will take a community effort, Henschel said.

“We must all ban together and work with lawmakers, school, police and county officials to help turn these numbers back around,” Henschel said. “This heroin problem is spiraling out of control and, unless we do something in our communities, our kids and grandkids are in big trouble.”